Are you interested in getting the latest information on the field of usability and user-centered design? There’s a few conferences and seminars around that you might wish to check out. Here’s a list of a few you might want to consider, just in case you decide to get out of your cube (or home-office) to hob-nob with other usability geeks (I’m of course including myself in that geek category):
HFI Putting Research into Practice Courses:
First and foremost, I am an advocate of the HumanFactors International “Putting Research into Practice” courses. They are 2 day courses that review the latest usability and related research, but then provide the “so what” of what it all means to you and your day to day practice of usability.
User Interface Engineering Events:
Usability guru Jared M Spool and his team wows us with usability insights and best practices. Do you read his blog? I do! Anyway, you can hang-out and hob-nob with the UIE team in the flesh and blood, and a host of other usability practitioners, at the UIE annual User Interface Conferences.
Usability Professionals Association Conference:
I’m a member of the UPA, and proud of it, and you may wish to consider joining if you are also interested in usability and user-centered design. But you don’t have to be a member to register and attend their premier conference, the UPA International Conference.
Other Usability Events:
Here’s a few other organizations that have either conferences or seminars you may want to learn more about. By the way this list comes from that excellent Usability.gov resource I mentioned, see how helpful that site is?
Web Manager University Training Program (formerly Usability University Seminar Series)
Society for Technical Communication (STC)
American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) Conferences
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Conferences
Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Groups (ACM SIGs) Events and Conferences
Society for Technical Communication (STC), Washington, DC Chapter, Calendar of Chapter Events
So, now that you’ve got the information don’t be a loner! Get out there and do the social, er, I mean educational scene and learn about the latest and greatest happenings in usability and user-centered design! Remember, feeding your brain with updated usability research makes you a better and more rounded usability practitioner.
